Mobile phone firms like Nokia, of course, would love a cheap, light strip of plastic to energize their devices, too. Sources tell me that Nokia is leaning heavily on Konarka to supply a solar-powered battery recharger that Nokia wants to market
with its phones for the 2005 holiday season.

The recharger will be plastic, and unroll or unfold from a phone carrying case. Just spread it out in the sunlight, and it will recharge the phone battery wherever you are. Will the product be ready? Well, Konarka has attracted a ton of VC money, and with a company like Nokia leaning on it for a product, you can bet that they're not going to waste a lot of time celebrating today's announcements. They've got some work to do.